Check Out the Completed RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK “Filmumentary”, RAIDING THE LOST ARK

Back in November, we told you aboutJamie Benning‘s unofficial Raiders of the Lost Ark “filmumentary”, Raiding the Lost Ark. Rather than a traditional documentary, Benning wove together old interviews, production notes, and behind-the-scenes footage to create a feature length film that runs alongside Raiders of the Lost Ark. The first 17 minutes were terrific and now the full 2 hour, 23 minute movie has gone online. Hit the jump to check it out along with Benning’s comments on how he developed the feature.

Writing for Empire, Benning says that in addition to his own research, the documentary was helped tremendously by fellow fans who submitted materials they had found independently:

Thanks to the coverage Star Wars Begins [Benning’s previous filmumentary] had received since February 2011, as well as a very generous group of Indy fans, this project has been far more collaborative than my previous efforts. Fans have sent me videos, stills, comic books, details and offers to create animations and even artwork for postcards and posters. I am eternally grateful to them and they all feature on a quite extensive Raiding credits roll.

Raiding has taken ten months to complete. My close friends and family thought I was mad to embark on something so soon after completing my own Star Wars trilogy (of sorts). But having ‘come out’ to so many friends and colleagues, and having made so many contacts, it seemed like an opportunity to prove that the filmumentary format could work for another classic blockbuster in my top five film list. Raiding is the culmination of hundreds of hours of work: researching, interviewing, editing, tweaking and agonising.

At some point in the near future I’m going to find a free weekend afternoon, watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and then watch this. Then I’m going to wonder if the inevitable Blu-ray of Raiders of the Lost Ark could offer anything better.